===PAGE 1=== LUNENBURG BOARD OF ASSESSORS NOVEMBER 20, 2024 BILOTTA ROOM, LUNENBURG TOWN HALL 17 MAIN STREET Present Members: Chair Brian Laffond, Vice Chair Sarah Cammer, Clerk John Rabbitt, Principal Assessor Lynda McQuade Absent Members: Interim Principal Assessor Rena Swezey CALL TO ORDER The meeting opened at 6:30 PM. OPENING COMMENTS  Board Lynda McQuade states there is a new administrative assessing assistant, Robin Nano, and she started on November 12th.  Public There were no comments from the public. STATUS REPORT FROM PRINCIPAL ASSESSOR.  Classification Hearing, Tax Rate and Motor Vehicle Abatements. Other items as needed. Below are updates provided by Lynda McQuade - The office received approval for the LA4, LA5, and interim values for FY 2025 from the Department of Revenue. - The state tax rate will be $14.37 per $1,000. - There have been 8 requests for abutters lists received in the past month. - 28 motor vehicle abatements have been received. - Commitment number 6 will be going out within the next week. Lynda McQuade will start preparing the Y2K file for the tax collector with assistance from Vision appraisal and consultant Randy Mercier. Goals for next month include: - Continue training with Robin on assessing functions - Start working on exemptions - Review chapter land applications - Reach out to CAI about map updates Brian Laffond questions if the tax bills will be prepared for January 1st. Lynda McQuade is unable to commit to that date as it relies on other departments with MUNIS challenges ===PAGE 2=== that are beyond their and her control. She confirmed everything from the assessor’s end has been completed. CURRENT BUSINESS  Review and Approve Minutes of November 6, 2024, October 16, 2024, October 2, 2024, Executive Sessions of August 19, 2024 The review and approval of minutes was postponed.  Review and Approve Invoices, Expense Vouchers, Billing Errors, etc. Commitment number 5 of motor vehicle abatements was signed. The Board signed a supplemental bill that had a few corrections.  Assessor Conference at the Senior Center The conference is scheduled for February 3rd at 1 PM. John Rabbitt is currently trying to recruit speakers to attend.  Review of Classification Hearing Brian Laffond congratulated Lynda McQuade and Sarah Cammer on the classification hearing. Lynda McQuade and Sarah Cammer discuss lessons learned and suggest remembering to bring the year to year comparison for the different property types to the meeting, so the town can review it, just as we have, prior to our submission to DOR. Brian Laffond also suggested a spreadsheet printout of the property values and the new values by address so individuals can review them. During the classification hearing, John Rabbitt asked for a week delay. The Board had previously agreed to move forward after reviewing the documents Lynda had prepared in the meeting of November 6th. There was some discussion about this issue and prior issues about John Rabbitt speaking on behalf of himself that contradicts what he agreed to at Board of Assessor meetings, as well as rejecting edits agreed to in previous meetings. John Rabbitt stated his intent was to improve the work. Members would like improvements to occur during the last meeting of the board on the subject, and not afterwards because then no review and open meeting discussion can be accomplished. John Rabbitt previously requested this discussion happen during the executive session. Brian Laffond spoke to Carter Terenzini and town counsel, and they confirmed this discussion does not warrant executive session. The board noted that the final numbers for the classification hearing arrived from the Finance department the morning of the hearing, as the department had significant issues with MUNIS leading up to the hearing that caused unintentional and unavoidable delay. The placeholders for the numbers were removed and filled with the numbers provided by the finance director as they are the purview of the finance director. These edits were agreed upon at the Nov 6th meeting. ===PAGE 3===  Acceptance of Exemption Warrant Article from Fall Town Meeting Lynda McQuade and Robin Nano will be making new charts with the new exemptions that just passed. Now that the articles have been approved there will be documentation on the town website. Lynda McQuade wants to design a brochure or a chart. Brian Laffond questions how we could change the baseline at the next town meeting, so COLA is still available. That way the town isn’t always behind. The board agreed to figure out how to do this. Sarah Cammer works backward from the spring town meeting, which is the first Saturday in May, to consider when this would need to be resolved. The warrant needs to be closed 6 weeks prior to the town meetings, so to do this it will need to be resolved by the end of February. Lynda McQuade wants to go through the exemptions during the next executive session meeting.  Modification of Assessor Website Carter Terenzini has had the Classification Hearing added to the website. John Rabbitt states he was unable to access the Assessors website. The other members of the Board have not been having issues. POSTPONED TOPICS  Discuss details and development of Assessing Calendar  BOA Policies UPCOMING MEETING/EVENTS SCHEDULE Upcoming Meetings: December 2, 2024, and December 18, 2024 CLOSING COMMENTS  Public There were no comments from the public.  Board There were no comments from the Board. ADJOURN There was a motion to adjourn by Sarah Cammer, seconded by John Rabbitt. All in favor. The meeting closed at 8:03 PM.